Review: WordPress 3 Ultimate Security
As a new web designer/developer, I am really glad to have discovered the book, WordPress 3 Ultimate Security. I came to feel that the author, Olly Connelly, knows what he's talking about and actually wants WordPress users to have a website that is as secure as possible.
And not just WordPress users. This book provides a level of depth and technical detail that any internet security manager would love. There are, in fact, only two chapters (and an Appendix) specific to WordPress. The rest contains techniques, explanations and references that cover the gamut of internet security experience; from your personal computer, through its various links to the web, and on into your server system and website files.
This book is not for the casual WordPress user, although the information in Chapters 6 and 7 is worth the price of the book. Chapter 8 is also invaluable to those of you who care about your written content and search rankings, and want to protect them them from undeserved use.
This book is more for people who have at least a working knowledge of computer and server file systems and a willingness to learn some new vocabulary. It is definitely for internet security novices, and seems to be an excellent resource for pros. Every step of the way, Connelly pays due attention to the different operating systems (Windows, Macs and Linux) including command line access. Having a book full of vested, security-related websites and plugins is certainly worth the cost as well.
Olly Connelly runs a website called vpsbible.com especially for people who are new to managing their own Linux servers. His regard for VPS (Virtual Private Server) shows through in the book and he devotes the last two chapters to heavy duty security for unmanaged hosting solutions. Most websites are run on shared servers, though, and he explains the differences and the pros and cons quite well in Chapter 9.
I personally enjoyed learning the names of the different sorts of hackers and crackers out there. In the first few chapters, he describes them, the risks (and benefits!) they provide and what you can do as a "white hat" hacker to find out just how vulnerable your systems are.
If I have any complaint about the book, it is the 'overly youthful' language. Or is that overly geekish? There is, for example, not a single use of the word "or" in the book; it's been replaced with the programming word "else." This is either too clever, or I have lived long enough to be witnessing dramatic changes in our living language.
PACKT Publishing is a publisher of the open source community experience and provides the kind of support for its products that I've come to expect of modern day publishers. There are e-versions of the book, online errata and updates as well as code available for your use. All in all I'm very impressed and can easily recommend WordPress 3 Ultimate Security.
Christine Golden, CLGolden Web Design & Development
June, 2010
→ Respond NowTags: Book Review
August Meeting Canceled
The August meeting has been canceled. We will pick up in September for the regular scheduled meeting.
→ Respond NowTags: Announcements
Expanding your professional tool kit
This meeting will look at and discuss the wide range of professional tools used by front end web developers and designers to do everything from wire framing to coding and debugging to billing your clients. We will look at subscription based web tools as well as more traditional desktop software. We will discuss some of our favorites from each category as well as how to avoid pitfalls when picking certain tools.
- Date:
- Thursday July 21st 2011
- Time:
- 6:30 PM
- Location:
- The Urban Hive 1931 H Street, Sacramento, CA 95811
Presentation Slides
Additional Tools
Zengobi Curio – Mind Mapping
http://www.zengobi.com/products/curio/
Scadaplan – Project Management
http://www.scadaplan.com/
So1o – Project Management
http://www.thrivesolo.com/
Notable – Project Management
http://www.notableapp.com/
Evernote – Cross Platform Notebook
http://www.evernote.com/
Xmarks – Bookmark Syncing
http://www.xmarks.com/
Espresso – Coding Environment
http://macrabbit.com/espresso/
Textastic – Code Editor for iPad
http://www.textasticapp.com/
Codasaurus – Code Editor for iPad
http://grilledbacon.com/
Lorizzle – Goofy Gangsta Content Generator
http://www.lorizzle.nl/
Blinksale – Billing / Invoicing
http://blinksale.com/
QuoteRobot – Generating Proposals
http://www.quoterobot.com/
Getklock – Time Tracking
http://www.getklok.com/
CashBoard – Time Tracking and Billing
https://www.cashboardapp.com/
→ Respond NowTags: Tools
jQuery Mobile
This June we will be talking about jQuery Mobile. Mobile development is a hot topic, and one that most of us will face sooner or later. This presentation is aiming to get you up to speed quickly so you can start building mobile apps right away.
This presentation will focus on front end development not backend since the technology used on the backend can be anything that you wish.
- Date:
- Thursday June 16th 2011
- Time:
- 6:30
- Location:
- The Urban Hive 1931 H Street, Sacramento, CA 95811
Presentation Slides
http://www.sacwebstandards.com/presentations/2011-06/jquerymobile.zip 7.5MB (PDF and HTML)
→ Respond NowTags: CSS · HTML · javascript
Programming HTML5
Local HTML5 expert Peter Lubbers (@peterlubbers), co-author of the Apress book Pro HTML5 Programming and founder of the San Francisco HTML5 User Group, will be in town and he will give an action-packed talk about HTML5 Programming. You don't want to miss this one!
Modern browsers already support a lot of the new features, so it is time to start using HTML5! In this talk you will learn how cutting-edge HTML5 web applications are created using the new HTML5 JavaScript APIs. Peter will give you a highly practical overview, outlining current browser support, useful tools, trends in the market, common gotchas, and how to make the new features work in older browsers.
Specific feature areas covered are:
- Multimedia
- Graphics and 3D
- Device access
- Performance
- Offline and Storage
- Connectivity
- Date:
- Thursday May 19st 2011
- Time:
- 6:30
- Location:
- The Urban Hive 1931 H Street, Sacramento, CA 95811
→ Respond NowTags: HTML · Optimization
